Yami no Jigsaw
by Starfire Eld
Summary: After trying to rescue a girl being abducted, Yami no Yugi wakes up in a pitch black room with a tape recorder in his hand, telling him the rules of a dark, twisted game. It will take all of Yami no Yugi's skills to escape Jigsaw's game - and bring his fellow participants out alive. Rated T for language and violence. Happy Halloween, everyone.
1. Blind Man's Buff

His head throbbed. He felt unnaturally dizzy, and his tongue felt thick and dry. Why was it so dark? Had he not opened his eyes yet?

He blinked a few times. No, he had definitely opened his eyes. Where were all the lights? Was he blind?

There was something in his hand. Ugh, his head...it pounded, making it hard to think. The thing in his hand felt rather solid. Maybe he should figure out what it was. No, better idea – he should figure out how he had gotten here. His head...ugh. He should sit up, but he was afraid the motion would make him feel worse.

Hm? What was he touching with his other hand? It felt...warm...and – sticky –

Yami no Yugi snapped into full awareness. His head continued to throb, but he sat himself up anyway. The world seemed to tilt around him. His stomach heaved. Before he could stop himself, he threw up all over the floor. Wincing, he wiped the corner of his mouth with his sleeve. He had forgotten about the warm stickiness in that hand, though, and smeared it against his lips. It was...coppery. He retched again, realizing instantly that it was blood.

_Other me? Other me!_

The voice echoed in the back of his mind. It was that more than anything that made him regain his composure.

_Yugi, are you all right?_

_I'm fine. What about you? Why can't I see anything?_

Yami no Yugi grimaced.

_Sorry. I'm not trying to block anything from you. I can't see a thing, either._

He hesitated.

_What...happened? I can't think..._

_You don't remember?_

_It's all a little fuzzy..._

In the back of his mind, Yugi opened up the memory to him.

Anzu hadn't wanted to go alone when she visited the New York college – so of course, pretty much the entire group tagged along. Anzu stayed behind at the college to talk a little more to the head of the dance department. Jonouchi and Shizuka went to do some sightseeing, and Honda tagged along with them. Ryo hadn't been feeling well, so he had returned to the hotel. After a few hours with Jonouchi and the others, Yugi had started to feel a bit tired. He decided to go check on Ryo, assuring the others that he could find his way back to the hotel just fine. But the New York streets were far more confusing than he had expected, and he found himself lost.

A quickly muffled scream rang out. He jumped, looking all around – there, in an alleyway, he could see someone. A girl was being attacked! He rushed into the alley without a second thought. It was deeply shadowed, but he could see the unconscious woman in the man's arms, see the strange pig mask that obscured the man's face. Yugi charged at him. The man grabbed him by the hair, whipping him backwards. By an unlucky turn, Yugi's head struck against a wall, and everything went black afterward.

_And it still is black, _Yami no Yugi thought dryly.

_So where do you think we are?_

Yami no Yugi took in a deep breath. The air was tinged with damp and mold. The floor felt cold. He felt across the floor with both hands. There were slight indents in the ground every few inches. Tile, perhaps? Then he remembered the other thing that had been in his hand. He had lost it when he struggled upwards.

With a groan, he shifted onto his knees and felt around. Tile, tile, tile, ow, that one was chipped, tile, tile, there!

The item felt somewhat warm, as though he had been gripping it. He ran his fingers down and all around it. There appeared to be buttons along one side...

He pushed one experimentally. A slight click and then a buzz filled his ears. A voice crackled from what had to be a tape recorder.

"_Hello. You will find that you are unable to see. You are not blind. All of the lights have been removed, and there are no windows."_

The voice was in English, and garbled. Yami no Yugi silently thanked Anzu for her extra English tutoring that Yugi had mostly forgotten, but Yami no Yugi had paid close attention to. When he heard the part about the lights and windows, he let out a small sigh of relief. He had been worried there was permanent damage to his eyes.

"_You were unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Therefore, you will participate in my games."_

Now Yami no Yugi's eyes narrowed. A game? This sounded like one of Yami no Bakura's tricks. But that was impossible, because Ryo didn't have the Ring. It was safe, back in Japan with Yugi's grandfather.

"_There is only one exit from this room. However, it requires a key. You will have to find the key, and the door, to escape."_

Yami no Yugi nodded. It sounded simple enough.

"_Does it sound simple? Take a sniff of the air. There is a gas being pumped slowly into the room. It contains a very small dose of poison that should not be lethal for another fifteen minutes. But if you can open the doors, the vents will close off, and the poison will dissipate."_

Yami no Yugi did take a sniff. There was a faint hint of...sulfur, perhaps? He couldn't put his finger on it.

"_You seemed willing to protect the woman I took to also participate in these games. If you still want to play the hero, then move quickly. You will find her after you escape this room. But remember this: she is not the only participant in the games."_

He bristled. "Play the hero"... He was not some child looking for attention.

"Damn this man," Yami no Yugi whispered. "He thinks he can play with people's lives in a game?"

_Then be willing to give up your own, mystery game master,_ he thought darkly.

A tremor of Yugi's fear and worry fluttered at the back of his mind. He immediately tried to calm him by sending waves of reassurance.

_Don't worry, partner. I'm the King of Games, aren't I? I'll get us out._

_I know, I know... _Yugi thought back. _But the others...they'll be so worried._

The smell of sulfur was becoming stronger. Yami no Yugi didn't risk wasting time chatting more. He shoved the tape recorder in his pocket and got to his feet. His head didn't hurt so much now. Everything around him was completely black. How would he find anything in less than fifteen minutes?

There was no point in worrying about it. He started to feel his way for a wall, his hands out in front of him. The sound of his feet sliding across the floor echoed. His heart jumped in spite of himself. Suddenly, his fingers touched wall. It was cold, like it too was covered in tile. Bolstered by finding something solid, he kept one hand to the wall and started moving alongside it.

"Ow!"

He hit his knee against something hard. Wincing, he reached with his free hand to feel the object. He jerked back when he realized that it was a toilet. Now he could add germs to the blood on his hand.

An uncomfortable sensation stirred in his stomach as he wondered where that blood had come from. Determined not to think about it, he navigated around the toilet and continued around the wall.

He smacked into something else almost immediately. His free hand grasped something cold, metal, and curved...a faucet. It had to be. He was in a bathroom. The thought was vaguely disgusting.

He took a deep breath – and instantly starting coughing. The smell of sulfur was creeping into the back of his throat and lodging there. How much time had passed?

Stumbling in his haste now, Yami no Yugi nearly fell flat on his face. But as he stumbled, his hand flew out and grabbed something – a door handle! He pulled himself back up. He started feeling along the door. The handle wouldn't turn. He had no idea where he would find a key in the pitch blackness with such a time limit. He moved to the hinges, thinking maybe he could pull out the bolts. No good. That part of the hinge must be on the other side of the door. He took a step back, wondering if he could break it down. He put his hands to it again. No. It was metal. He turned back to face the darkness of the room.

The key. He had to find the key. How much time did he have left?

His heart pounded in his chest. He coughed every time he took a breath. Key. Key. Key. Where would he hide a key? He was in a bathroom. It could be on the floor. It could be within whatever the source of the blood was. Yami no Yugi could not suppress a shiver at the idea of having to search a corpse, if that was what joined him in this bathroom. His hands clenched. He played games. He understood them. Where would he hide a key? The sulfur scent mixed with the terrible, rotting dampness of the bathroom –

Bathroom!

Yami no Yugi slapped his hand onto the wall and moved as quickly as he could. He ran into the sink again, nearly knocking the wind out of his chest. He pushed himself around the sink and felt his way to the toilet. The lid and the seat had been ripped away, if his touch was to be trusted. Grimacing at what he was about to do, he plunged his hand down into the water. The cold seeped into his sleeve. He coughed, banging his hand painfully against the side of the bowl. But there, there was the key! Right at the bottom of the bowl!

Triumphantly, he half ran along the wall, running into the sink _again_ – and shoved the key into the handle. It jiggled, stuck for a single, terrifying moment – and then the door pushed open. It opened so quickly that he lost his balance and tumbled face first to the floor.

Ugh, the light! It was much much too bright! He lay prone on the floor for a few seconds, gratefully breathing in clear, clean air. The smell of sulfur dissipated quickly. This new room smelled just as damp and rotting as the last one, but it was sweet, pure breath to Yami no Yugi in that moment.

_Are you okay? _Yugi asked.

"I've been better," Yami no Yugi said.

He heaved another, beautiful breath. Then he pushed himself up to his feet.

He glanced back into the room, now illuminated by a cutting of light. It was tiny, he could see now. He could have crossed the room in just three steps. And there was no corpse, no bloodstains, no death to be seen. He looked down at his own hand. A cut ran across his palm. He felt almost sheepish about jumping to conclusions.

But that wasn't important right now.

There were other lives at stake.


	2. Hopscotch

Yami no Yugi was not taking any chances with this madman. He examined the hallway carefully from his vantage point before he even thought about moving.

It was long, brightly lit, and had three doors: two on the right and one on the left. The walls were a dull, sickening green and the floor chipped tile. It looked innocuous enough. But there was a buzz in the back of Yami no Yugi's mind, an instinct that told him to be cautious. Something...didn't feel right.

He examined the floor again. There was nothing there. He glanced at the walls, the three doors, even back at the bathroom he had just escaped. But his eyes kept returning to the floor. Something was off...

Ah! There! The small squares were in an alternating pattern of black and white. But there was one tile that was a dark blue. In the lighting, it had looked almost black. Yami no Yugi took a few cautious steps across the floor. His footsteps sounded eerie in the empty hallway. But he didn't hesitate much longer. His instincts told him the dark blue square was the only thing out of place, and he trusted his instincts. Especially inside a game.

He approached the first blue square. It sat right in front of the first door on the right, which was closed tightly shut. Yami no Yugi knelt down, examined it. It was a little bit higher than the rest of the squares. His eyes darted around the walls for some clue as to what might happen. The tile was obviously pushable. And it was set just so – he would have walked right over it if he hadn't been looking.

There, a small indent on the wall. A booby trap? Yami no Yugi reassured himself that there were no other out of place markings, repositioned himself out of the sight range of the indent, and pushed down on the tile.

The wall popped open. Yami no Yugi tensed, waiting for a spurt of poisonous gas, a gunshot, even an arrow or something –

No. It was a compartment. And it held another tape recorder. Yami no Yugi grabbed it. This had to be the next clue, the next set of instructions.

"_Congratulations on escaping from the darkness. Your will to live is exceptional. But now you have a choice. If you walk to the end of this hall, there is a dresser. There are four keys in the top shelf. Two will open rigged doors, that will kill you if you open them. One opens the door that leads to the other participants. The fourth opens the door at the end of the hall that leads outside. You can choose to walk away unharmed from this game. Or you can risk your life to enter the other rooms."_

The tape ended abruptly. A tremor started to pulse through Yami no Yugi. His hand shook on the tape recorder, his knuckles gone white.

_Other me?_

Yami no Yugi smiled darkly.

"Does he really think I'm just going to walk out?"

He threw the tape recorder to the ground.

"This is my answer to you."

He stomped on the tape recorder. It cracked and shattered satisfactorily. He took the other tape recorder from his pocket and tossed it against a wall.

_Other me? _Yugi said again.

Yami no Yugi's fists clenched, and then relaxed.

_I'm sorry, Yugi, _he thought. _But I'm going to play this game through to the end. I'm not leaving anyone behind._

Yugi's voice was warm when he replied.

_I didn't expect anything different. I would have been upset with you if we had left._

Yami no Yugi didn't hesitate now. He marched down the hall. It branched off in two directions, but ended quickly. On his right was a door. On his left, tucked in the corner, was the dresser. He didn't bother looking for traps. That didn't seem to be the type of game this man was playing. He ripped open the drawer. There were the four keys. He glanced across them, looking for some pattern that could give him a clue to which key was which. There was none, so he scooped all four up and returned to the hallway.

_How are we going to find the right door?_ Yugi asked nervously.

Yami no Yugi smiled in spite of himself.

"Don't worry about that."

He scanned all three doors. They looked exactly alike. The keys had no defining details, either. But Yami no Yugi was not an ordinary gamer.

"This man is going to regret challenging me," he said.

He moved to the wall with one door and gripped the handle. He jiggled it a bit. Nothing happened. He moved to the door across from it and jiggled the handle. This time a sort of buzzing sound. He nodded, and moved to the final door. This one gave off a half click sound. Yami no Yugi pushed the handle a little more. A clickity-tap-tap-tap. Yami no Yugi nodded.

_What did you notice?_ Yugi asked.

_He said two would have an instant death trap when opened. Naturally, it would have to be tied to the opening of the door, and thus the handle. I can hear the mechanism readying to snap when I move the handle._

Yami no Yugi walked back to the only safe door and started trying each of the keys. The third one worked, and he cautiously, slowly, pushed it open.

Nothing snapped out at him. He found himself staring at an even longer hallway, this one dimly lit.

_No time to waste. There are other people's lives at stake._

He headed down the hallway. There were no doors on the walls, nor windows. The only light came from a few half dead fluorescent lights hanging above. It smelled dusty, a lot drier than the last place.

The hallway turned sharply to the right. A door lay at the end of the hall. He tried the handle. When it didn't turn, he tested the key he had used for the last door. It worked, and the door swung open.

A horrible sight stretched out in front of him.

It looked like a small warehouse. The tile floor was grubby and damp, something green growing between the cracks. Unfinished walls were coated with mold. A horrid set of razor sharp wires crisscrossed the whole room.

And there was a woman on the other side of the room, half naked and bleeding all down her arms. Tears ran trails through the grime of her face; her strawberry blond hair was matted and torn. He recognized her as the woman he had tried to rescue at the beginning of this crazy adventure.

She saw Yami no Yugi instantly. Her lips formed into a silent scream, and she tried to stumble backwards.

"Don't move!" Yami no Yugi said in English, jerking his hands up. "Don't move!"

The woman froze, inches away from a wire behind her. She hiccuped with barely constrained tears.

"W-who are you?" she said.

"My name is Yugi," Yami no Yugi said. "I'm here to help you."

He took a tentative step into the room, scanning it. The wires were dense. He could imagine that one could wriggle around them, but not without taking some serious cuts. That would explain the girl's injuries.

She had her arms wrapped protectively around her chest – all she had on top was a bra. Yami no Yugi tried to avert his eyes to protect her modesty, but he had to look at her if he was going to try and keep her calm.

"Are you hurt too much?" he asked.

"I am fucking cut up all over," she said.

"Have you tried to get through?"

She swallowed.

"Only a few feet. I – I think I'm stuck."

"Just...try to stay calm. I'm going to help you. I promise."

She tried to swallow again but only managed a hiccup.

"What's your name?" Yami no Yugi asked. He had to keep her talking, keep her from going into too much shock. He glanced around the room as he talked, trying to find some way to get to her safely.

"Alice," she said.

"Did you get a tape recorder?"

"Yeah."

"What did it tell you?"

"I have to make it through these wires, find a key, and get out that door," Alice said, nodding toward a door on the left wall. "I have...I think twenty minutes left before it...it...seals for good."

She choked on the words. She looked like she might die of fright any second.

"That's not going to happen," Yami no Yugi said. "I promise."

And then the door behind him snapped shut of its own accord. Alice screamed. Yami no Yugi whipped around. He grabbed the door handle and yanked on it. No good. He tried the key that had open it before. That didn't work either. He whipped back around to face Alice, whose breaths were coming in wheezy, high pitched gasps.

"Calm down," Yami no Yugi said. "Calm down!"

"I – I can't – I don't – want to die –"

"You are not going to die, I swear to you. I will get you out of here alive. I promise."

"How can you fucking say that? You're what, a fucking high schooler?"

Yami no Yugi held her gaze. It seemed that in that single moment, she realized the deep crimson of his eyes, because her mouth dropped open.

"I'm the King of Games," Yami no Yugi said. "I have never lost a game. And I will not lose this one."

His eyes snapped around the room. The wires were attached with thick bolts. There would be no releasing them, even if he could reach where they were held. He had nothing sharp, no weapons, nothing that could break through them. His eyes scanned the floor –

Oh.

Colors. There were different colored tiles: a deep, dull red, a dark blue, and white.

"Alice-san. Was there anything else from the tape recorder? Any other clues?"

Alice trembled.

"I...yes...he – he said...watch your steps."

"Then there's a pattern through this. It's a maze," Yami no Yugi said. "Try to take deep breaths, Alice-san. I'm going to figure this out."

Key. He had to find another key, get Alice out of the razor wire maze, and figure out this puzzle. Red, blue, white. Red, blue, white. Red, blue, white...

Alice sniffled. Sweat beaded on Yami no Yugi's forehead. There had to be a pattern. There had to be!

_Other me!_

Yami no Yugi startled up at Yugi's tone.

_What?_

_The pattern, I have it! In English, red has three letters. Blue has four, and white has five._

Comprehension snapped in Yami no Yugi's mind like a lighter.

"Watch your _steps_," he murmured. "The number of steps. You wouldn't pluralize that normally!"

He took a step forward. There was a red square – and yes, there was a nice, clear gap to slide onto that square. He balanced on the square.

"What are you doing?" Alice squealed.

"There's a pattern," Yami no Yugi said. "First step to a red square, then a blue one, and then a white one. Red, blue, white."

"But –"

Yami no Yugi took another careful step, finding it easy to step over and duck under the wires that led to a blue square.

"Alice-san, please, step to a white square. The one closest to the door. Then a red one. I promise, you'll make it through."

Alice swallowed. She looked absolutely terrified. But she nodded, and started to squeeze through to a red square.

_And then the matter of the key,_ Yami no Yugi said. _That can only be..._

_Under that violet square,_ Yugi confirmed.

Yami no Yugi slipped under another wire. White square. Red square. Blue square. White square.

"I made it!"

Disbelieving joy crept into Alice's voice.

"Are you hurt?" Yami no Yugi called, not daring to look away from his steps.

"Not much more than before."

She hesitated.

"We don't have much time left."

"I promised you I would get you out. I don't break promises."

There, the violet square! He had made it! He slid over a wire, one foot on the purple square. Bring the other foot over...

"AAAA!"

His foot slipped on whatever was growing between the cracks of the tiles. His legs went out from under him, Alice screamed, Yugi's cry echoed in the back of his mind. The back of his hand was sliced mercilessly open. A wire cut an inch deep into his calf. Several other wires sliced into his arms. He struck against the ground - the air whooshed out of him. Stars exploded in front of his eyes.

_Other me! Other me!_

Fiery pain rushed through him. His calf was still on the wire, pulled down because it was elevated above him. With a cry, he ripped his leg upwards and off the wire. But then the top of his leg hit another wire and he took another cut. He tried to smother the scream, but a whispered cry escaped him anyway.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God," Alice's voice clattered around his head.

He was in a terrible, terrible position. Wires all around, his leg screaming with pain, and no good way to maneuver his way upward.

How much time was left before the door sealed? He could hear Alice's sharp, jolting breaths, breaths that were obviously not filling her lungs. His own breaths didn't seem deep enough, or fast enough. He could barely think past the pain in his leg.

"Y-Yugi, please, oh God, don't die, I don't want to die here! I don't want to be alone here, goddamn it!"

_Other me!_ Yugi screamed.

It was Yugi's voice that forced Yami no Yugi to get up. Slowly, he tried to situate himself upwards. He couldn't seem to coordinate his body. The wires were too densely packed. He had to move. He managed to roll onto his stomach. The disgusting, musty scent of the floor attacked his nostrils. He tried to ignore it. He tried to ignore the horrid pain coursing through his leg each time he shifted forward. He couldn't see the wires above him – he couldn't dare to get up. But crawling along on his belly would only get him so far.

He could reach the violet square, though. He stretched out and pushed the tile down. A compartment beside the door popped open, revealing a key hanging from a hook. Alice looked at it disbelievingly.

"Alice-san, get out of here," Yami no Yugi said. "Get out."

"B-But – goddamn it, what about you?"

"I can't...I don't think I can get up."

Alice gaped at him. He could barely see her from his vantage point, the top of her face completely obscured.

"Please," Yami no Yugi said. "It's no good if both of us die. At least...at least open the door before it seals. Please."

Alice shifted back, towards the key. Yami no Yugi closed his eyes. Dammit. He couldn't have lost already. At least...he could win for one person.

_No! No giving up, other me!_

And with surprising force, Yugi wrenched back control. Yami no Yugi was flung back into his soul room.

"Yugi!"

He charged forward, throwing himself against the door of his soul room.

"Yugi! What are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!"

_Well, staying there wasn't going to keep us alive, either._

Yami no Yugi watched in disbelief, through Yugi's eyes, as Yugi pushed himself up. A wire sliced across his back. Yugi barely even flinched. Determination pulsed through him like his entire body had become as tough as stone.

Another wire cut across Yugi's palm as he slowly inched back up to standing position. Yami no Yugi reached out, trying to take away the twinges of pain. But Yugi wouldn't even let Yami no Yugi share the pain. He had effectively blocked Yami no Yugi from everything except sight and hearing. One laborious step at a time, Yugi inched in, through, under, over and past the wires. He was clumsy in his haste. More wires sliced clean cuts across his arms and legs. But Yugi didn't falter. He didn't hesitate, didn't stop until he had gotten himself to the end of the wires.

Then he collapsed to one knee. Alice half ran to him.

"Oh God," she kept whispered.

"The door," Yugi said. "Quickly."

Alice's eyes widened until they were mostly whites. She bolted to the compartment, snatched the key, and shoved it in the lock. She flung the door open so quickly that she fell right through it.

Yugi's breaths came hard, his very mind seemed to ache. He didn't protest when Yami no Yugi slipped back into control.

_You are reckless,_ Yami no Yugi said.

_But we're alive,_ Yugi said, sounding tired.

A smile twitched across Yami no Yugi's face, but it was a poor mask to the rage of terror that continued to storm within him. He could now feel every cut, and realized how much pain Yugi had suffered getting through those wires.

_That was a compliment,_ Yami no Yugi said quietly.


	3. Look and Find

Yami no Yugi's legs dragged. He felt like he would never be able to lift his arms any higher than chest length again. He couldn't remember what it was like to walk without twinges of pain shooting up and down his spine.

But he showed none of it. Alice was still trembling terribly. She was wearing Yugi's school jacket now, buttoned up to cover herself. She clutched at the hem like the wheel of a car headed for a cliff.

This new hallway was much like the one he had walked to get to Alice's room. There was no sign of a door yet. Yami no Yugi's mind moved sluggishly – it was not a good feeling. He felt as though he was still only on level one, and whatever was coming next would be devastating. How many others were in this building? How many more did he have to save?

He had to be on top of his game. He couldn't drop his guard. Biting his tongue to wake himself up, he tried to remain standing tall.

"Um, Yugi," Alice said.

Yami no Yugi glanced at her. She wasn't looking at him.

"Thank you," she said. "You didn't have to do that for me."

Yami no Yugi managed a smile.

"What, could I have just left you there?"

"I – I think I would have," she said. "If we were reversed, I would have saved myself."

Yami no Yugi laughed softly.

"Maybe not," he said. "I told you to go without me. You didn't."

"Well...you were being so damn sacrificing. And you're so damn young."

She wrung her hands. Then she went back to clutching the jacket again.

"So take the damn thanks, and stop being fucking modest about saving my sorry, not worth it hide," she said.

"All right. You're welcome," Yami no Yugi said. "But there is no such thing as an unworthy life."

"Some of us don't deserve it."

Yami no Yugi stopped. She stopped too, looking nervous. He looked up at her – she was several inches taller than him – and she looked back, chewing on her lip.

"What?" she said.

"Alice-san," Yami no Yugi said. "Everyone has some kind of darkness in them. But that doesn't mean they don't deserve to live."

He took a deep breath, and let it out.

"Every life is meaningful. Every single one."

She searched his eyes. The cut on her cheek glowed red against her pale skin. Then she shook her head, smiling with disbelief.

"So people like that exist, huh?" she said. "Damn."

They didn't talk anymore. They just kept walking.

The hall ended. There was a door on the right wall. Yami no Yugi tried the handle. It was, obviously, locked. He tested all of his keys. The one from the wire room fit, and the door swung open.

A vague, ambient reddish light seemed to fill the room. It illuminated the two figures at the center. It glinted off of what looked like a knife, raised to punch into the other figure's gut –

Yami no Yugi barreled into the room. He knocked into the figure with the knife. They both went careening to the floor. The blade glanced off the ground and made several sparks. Yami no Yugi lashed out, trying to grab the wrist holding the knife. He heard Alice screaming. His opponent was much bigger than him – and much stronger. A harsh grunt sounded in Yami no Yugi's ear as he found himself flung to the side. He rolled over before the knife could come down on his neck. He spun around on the floor, hitting his legs against the man's knees.

He tumbled to the ground – the knife clattered across the floor. Yami no Yugi dove for it – he skidded across the ground, and dust and gravel shoved themselves into his cuts. He cried out in pain.

But the knife was his. He scrambled to his feet. His opponent had gotten back up too. Now Yami no Yugi could see his face. He was a huge man, broad shoulder and well-muscled, reminding Yami no Yugi of a lumberjack. A thick black beard and mustache grew around his face and melded with his shaggy black hair. His blue eyes were wide and wild. He took another step towards Yami no Yugi, hands out as though planning to choke him.

"Stay back!" Yami no Yugi said, brandishing the knife. "Stop!"

The man stopped. His hands opened and closed into fists in midair, as though he were imagining squeezing Yami no Yugi's neck.

"What the hell were you doing?" Yami no Yugi said. His voice trembled with rage. "You were going to kill her!"

The other figure was a girl, small and slight. She reminded Yami no Yugi of Shizuka, with her delicately curved face and fine eyelashes. Her silky, white blonde hair looked soft. Her face, however, was distinctly American. She hung by her wrists in the center of the room. Her shirt had been ripped to reveal her stomach, and a small red X was drawn next to her bellybutton. Her eyelids fluttered, as though she were slowly coming out of a coma.

"I have to," the man said, his voice rough as sandpaper. "I got poison in me – the antidote's in her stomach."

Yami no Yugi's hand clenched around the knife, causing it to tremble with a dangerous rage.

"And you were going to kill her?" he asked. "You were going to _kill her_?"

The man's teeth bared.

"Don't act all high and mighty! You'd do the same damn thing if you was poisoned!"

"No," Yami no Yugi said. "I would not. And you won't either."

His eyes flickered to the frozen Alice in the doorway. Yami no Yugi knew what he was going to do an instant before it happened. He flung himself in between him and Alice. Alice screamed again. After a struggle, in which Yami no Yugi felt the knife slice into something and heard the man cry out, they broke apart again.

"Leave her alone," Yami no Yugi said.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, kid," the man said, spitting onto the floor. "She _and_ other chick can die, or just one of 'em can die."

"No one is going to die!" Yami no Yugi said.

"Somebody's gonna die if you don't move out of the way, and it might be you."

Yami no Yugi focused the full force of his rage through his eyes, directly at the man. He wasn't sure what he looked like, but the man didn't seem to like what he saw there. He actually looked nervous, and took a few steps back.

"No one is going to die," Yami no Yugi repeated.

He held the knife out in front of him, between him and the man. He glanced at the girl. Her eyes were starting to open. Fear was flickering across her deep brown eyes as she started to realize that she couldn't move her hands.

"Stay calm," he said. "It's all going to be okay."

"It damn well isn't!" the man bellowed.

Yami no Yugi ignored this.

"Your name," he said, looking at the man hard in the eye. "What is it?"

"Like you damn care."

Yami no Yugi waited. The man spit on the floor again.

"Riker. Anthony Riker."

Yami no Yugi nodded.

"All right, Riker-san. I am going to promise you this right now. You, me, and everyone in this room is going to get out alive."

The man stared at him. And then he started sputtering, and it turned into a huge belly laugh.

"You're fucking kidding me, right? He's crazy, right?"

He looked at Alice for some kind of confirmation, someone to pick up on his joke. But Alice's lips were tight, and her face pale. She took a tentative step into the room, to stand behind Yami no Yugi.

"I trust him," she whispered. "He'll get us all out."

The man gaped at her. Then he shook his head.

"Damn you. All of you fuckers. All of you can go straight to hell."

He sank back against the wall.

"Did you get a tape recorder?" Yami no Yugi asked.

The man looked like he wasn't going to answer. He glared at Yami no Yugi for a while, like it was none of his business. Then he blew out harshly.

"Dammit, yes, I did," he said. "Fucker told me that I've got a fucking poison in my system. Antidote's in the girl's stomach. Key to get out is hidden in the room. Damn fucker."

"How long do you have?"

"He said twenty minutes. I'd say its been about fucking five minutes since then."

Yami no Yugi nodded. Another key to find. Probably to open the door on the other side of the room. Of course, because there was no going back through the razor maze. And then the antidote, inside the girl's stomach.

Her eyes found his. Her mouth was wide open, her hands trembling. She didn't seem able to find words to speak – she seemed to have heard about the antidote in her stomach, and her eyes were fixed on the knife in his hand.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "I promise, you'll be okay. What's your name?"

Her mouth flopped open and closed like a fish. Yami no Yugi waited patiently.

"N-Narcissa," she whispered.

"Narcissa," he said, trying to sound as reassuring as he could. "You're going to be okay."

Tears grew in her eyes.

"I want to go home," she whispered. "I don't want to be here."

She closed her eyes tightly shut. She started muttering to herself, something that sounded like an apology for getting involved with the bad kids, for getting drunk, for trying out drugs. Yami no Yugi decided it was best to leave her to it while he looked for clues.

He scanned the room. Maybe there was another antidote hidden in the walls. However psychopathic this man was, he couldn't possibly bring someone into a game just to be killed. His fists tightened, and his nails dug painfully into his palm.

This man was going to pay for the terror he was wreaking on this people. If Yami no Yugi, King of Games and pharaoh of Egypt, had anything to say about it, this man was going to pay.

His eyes caught on something. The walls were made of brick, not plaster or tile like the other rooms. And a few of them seemed to stick out. He glanced at Anthony to make sure he didn't try anything, but the man had leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Yami no Yugi caught Alice's eye. He silently handed her the knife, and nodded towards Anthony to let her know to keep an eye on him. Alice looked positively shocked that he was handing her a weapon, and she stared at it as though it were going to bite her.

Yami no Yugi moved towards the wall with the protruding bricks. There were five of them.

_Well, partner? Another pattern?_

_Hm...I don't think it's that complicated, actually._

_It can't be. Anthony doesn't seem like the brightest person._

Yami no Yugi ran his finger across the bricks. Five protruding bricks. He knocked against one. Another. A third –

Hollow. It sounded hollow. A relieved smile broke across Yami no Yugi's face. He wiggled the brick and pulled it free. Inside the brick was a key.

"Found the door key," he said.

Anthony's eyes snapped open. He stared at Yami no Yugi.

"How the fuck did you figure that out?" he said.

Yami no Yugi shrugged.

"Gamer's eye."

He put the key into his pocket. He tried the other two bricks. Another one was hollow, and it contained a smaller key. He realized what that was for instantly. He crossed the room and fit the key into Narcissa's chains.

"The fuck are you doing?" Anthony said, starting to rise up.

But Narcissa was already out. She collapsed into Yami no Yugi's arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she sobbed. "Oh thank God."

"Yugi," Alice said warningly.

Yami no Yugi twirled around, practically flinging Narcissa towards Alice. Anthony had flung himself at Yami no Yugi, and the pair of them tumbled to the ground again. Anthony's hands scrabbled for Yami no Yugi's throat. They managed to graze against his windpipe and Yami no Yugi started to cough. Pain flared all down his body as his cuts opened further. Blood started to stain his clothing. He rammed a knee into Anthony's groin.

"I'll stab you, dammit, I'll stab you!" Alice was screaming.

"NO!" Yami no Yugi tried to shout, but it came out a whisper because of his windpipe.

He rolled over, knocked Anthony to the ground, and by a stroke of luck, the man hit the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Yami no Yugi scrambled to his feet. It took Anthony a few moments to regain his breath and slowly start to sit up.

"Stop this, now!" Yami no Yugi said.

"You fucker," Anthony choked out. "I'll die – unless I open up her fucking stomach."

Narcissa screamed and hid behind Alice.

"No one's stomach is being opened!" Yami no Yugi said. "And you're not going to die."

Anthony's motions seemed sluggish. Yami no Yugi's heart rate increased. The poison – how much time had passed? These damn time limits!

"Then tell me – how you're gonna – get the antidote, smart ass," Anthony said.

Yami no Yugi had no idea. His brain was racing, and yet it felt like he could only think of a blank wall. How was he going to get the antidote without killing Narcissa. He glanced at the girl. She was no older than he was.

Her eyes widened at his glance, and she shrank back, clamping her hands over her stomach. Yami no Yugi backed off.

"Narcissa-san, I'm not going to hurt you. No one is."

"I'll fucking hurt the little bitch," Anthony said.

"Get through me first, bastard!" Alice said.

"Everyone please, quiet!" Yami no Yugi shouted.

They all fell silent, although glares and looks of terror flashed between all of them.

_Think, think, think! How to get something that she's swallowed out?_

Anthony didn't seem able to stand up. His arms lay heavily in his lap. He was glaring at Alice, but his head was starting to loll slowly to the side, as though he were losing control of his muscles. Cold sweat coated Yami no Yugi's palms. What could he do? How could he save everyone? Was there a way out?

_She swallowed it. How do I get it out?_

_Throw up! _Yugi said.

"What?" Yami no Yugi said aloud, so surprised by the words.

Anthony, Alice, and Narcissa all looked at him.

"Nobody said anything," Narcissa said nervously.

Yami no Yugi shook his head, casting his thoughts back to Yugi.

_What did you say?_

_She has to throw up! It's in her stomach, so it'll come out if she throws up!_

_But how do I make her..._

Yami no Yugi grimaced. Well, it was no more disgusting than thrusting his hand into a toilet. He probably shouldn't use that particular hand to do it.

He met Narcissa's eyes. Her mouth was in a solid O of terror.

"I am really sorry about this," he said.

And before he could hesitate, he pushed his hand through her open mouth and into her back of her throat. She retched, biting into his hand furiously. He managed to yank free. She retched a few more times. And then she threw up. Bile sprayed across the floor. She retched again. This time chunks. Alice yelped and scurried out of the way. Anthony looked like he might throw up too. One more retch –

And she suddenly started to choke. Her eyes widened, her hands flapped up and down. Alice moved first. She dropped the knife, wrapped her arms around Narcissa, and started to pump. One, two, three – _pop! _The tiny bottle popped right out of her throat and clattered to the floor. Yami no Yugi thanked the gods above that it hadn't shattered. He grabbed the bottle and rushed over to Anthony.

"Take this, quickly!" he said.

Anthony's shoulders tensed, but his arms wouldn't move. Yami no Yugi ignored this, popping open the bottle and forcing it down Anthony's open mouth. He sputtered a bit, but managed to swallow it.

Narcissa was crying on the floor, Alice hugging her. Anthony still didn't seem able to move, but his head was started to come back up the right way.

Alice looked across at Yami no Yugi. She shook her head, her mouth hanging open a little bit.

"Why?" she said. "Why are you so desperate to save everyone?"

Yami no Yugi sank to sit cross-legged, feeling more tired than ever.

"Because I have to," he said.


	4. Mancala

The next room looked more ominous than all of them put together. It was big, so big that the ceiling was lost in shadow. Clearly painted squares lined the concrete floor in two columns. Crates were stacked so that you had to walk across those painted columns.

Yami no Yugi didn't like the sight of those columns.

Alice was supporting Narcissa, who still felt weak after her sick episode. Anthony was walking, but his steps were slow and plodding. Yami no Yugi just wanted to lay down and never get up again. But he could not, because he could feel these people depending on him. Anthony hadn't said a word since they left his game room. Narcissa had hiccuped more sobbed thanks, and Alice had continued to stare at him and shake her head. Yami no Yugi wondered bleakly how many more people there were, and how many more games.

He almost didn't notice the laptop set on a nearby crate until it flickered into life. Yami no Yugi tensed up.

An eerie looking puppet appeared on the screen, white faced with red cheeks and a ventriloquist dummy's mouth that opened and closed when it talked.

"Congratulations, mysterious young man," the voice said. "I never would have imagined you to get this far, much less bring so many people to safety. Your will to survive is incredibly strong."

"Go to hell," Yami no Yugi said.

The puppet – or rather, the man talking for the puppet – ignored this.

"There are a few more games to get through before you can leave. But rest assured that you have already met all of the players. There are no more people to rescue. Only these people to keep alive."

Yami no Yugi bristled. _More_ games? This man was going to definitely regret ever starting this.

"Before I explain the rules, I am quite interested to know your name, young man," he said. "You were an unintentional part of the game. I am very surprised at you."

It was a wonder that Yami no Yugi's eyes didn't burn holes through the screen.

"My name?" he said. "You can call me Yugi. Yugi Mutou. The King of Games."

The puppet remained silent for a few moments.

"King of Games, hm...?" he said. "Interesting. We will see how good you are at this next game."

"What about your name?" Yami no Yugi said. "I do like to know the names of my opponents before I defeat them."

The man chuckled.

"Full of confidence, are we?" he said. "Well. I believe the media calls me the Jigsaw Killer. You can call me Jigsaw."

Yami no Yugi glared.

"Very well, _Jigsaw,_" Yami no Yugi said. "Let be known that you made two mistakes today. Your first was to challenge me. And your last is to place innocent lives in danger."

Jigsaw laughed.

"Innocent? They waste the gift of life. They do not deserve it."

"All life is precious, and it is not for you to decide who deserves it," Yami no Yugi snapped. "Now explain the rules of the game."

"Of course," Jigsaw said. "You'll see the giant squares on the floor. They are weight sensitive."

Yami no Yugi stiffened.

"I won't tell you how much weight each one requires. You seem to be good at figuring out patterns," Jigsaw continued. "But place too much weight or not enough onto a square, and you will be given a lethal shock."

Yami no Yugi's hands clenched.

"Fine, Jigsaw, I'll accept your rules. But I want you to remember this."

The shadow magic tightened around him. He suppressed his Eye of Horus, so as not to scare his companions, but the effect was the same.

"This has just become a Shadow Game. And if you lose, you'll be the one to suffer."

Jigsaw chuckled again.

"Feisty. I like you."

"Funny. I don't like you."

And he stabbed the knife into the screen, effectively shutting it down.

He glanced back at the others. Narcissa looked like she was going to fall into little tiny pieces. Anthony was staring at Yami no Yugi with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and complete confusion. Only Alice looked at him with a sort of calmness. She half smiled.

"King of Games, huh?" she said. "Was that bullshitting, or do you actually believe that?"

Yami no Yugi folded his arms and tried to smile confidently.

"Officially speaking, yes, I am the King of Games. That was the title I got after winning a Duel Monsters tournament."

"Fucking card games?" Anthony said, shaking his head.

"I have never lost a game," Yami no Yugi said quietly. "And I will not start now."

He turned to face the board.

"So, weight sensitive, huh?" Alice said nervously.

"Right," Yami no Yugi said. "So some of them, we might need all four of us on the square. Some might only take one."

_Rather like a mancala board. Each indent will only hold so many stones...and each stone has to jump through every square._

He turned back to the computer screen and pulled out the knife. He tossed it experimentally onto the first square. Nothing happened. Cautiously, he picked it up without touching the square, and tossed the knife into the next one.

A horrible crackle sounded across the warehouse, and lightning sparked around the blade.

"That one needs more weight," Yami no Yugi muttered.

The knife continued to spark. He hadn't thought about what he was going to do to move it. He shook his head. Leaving all inhibitions behind, he activated some of his shadow magic and shoved the knife off the board. If the others were surprised at seeing the knife move by itself, no one mentioned it. Perhaps they thought the electrocution made it jump.

"So?" Anthony said. "Got anything, Mr. King of Games?"

"Give me a minute."

He walked up and down the two columns. Two columns. Perhaps moving back and forth across the columns was the best idea. What colors were the squares?

_Red, blue, white, purple, _Yugi and Yami no Yugi chorused at the same time.

_Number of people per square? _Yugi suggested.

_We only have four people._

_Right. But maybe increasing?_

_Definitely._

The first square was red. Yami no Yugi stepped onto it. Alice screamed, Narcissa yelled stop – nothing happened.

"This is a one person square," Yami no Yugi explained. "The colors indicate how many people can be on a square at one time."

"So we have to move in a weird pattern?" Alice said.

"Right. There are three adjacent squares. Another red, a blue, and a white. Blue will take up to two. Three and it gives the shock. White takes three. Purple takes four. Red only one."

"But there _has_ to be two at a time on the blue ones, right?" Narcissa said in a high pitched voice."And there _has_ to be three on the three one, right?"

Yami no Yugi grimaced.

"Yes," he said. "I'm afraid so. We'll have to work together."

Anthony's fists clenched. But he didn't say anything. Yami no Yugi looked at him, curious. Anthony glared back.

"Dammit, don't look at me like that. I may not like any of you, but I want to live, dammit. I'll work with you guys. Can't get across with less than four."

That wasn't necessarily true, as there were far fewer purple squares than anything else. But Yami no Yugi chose not to say that.

He stepped onto the next red square.

"All right. You all have to do your best to listen to me," he said. "And I promise you, I will get you all out alive."

Nobody said anything. But he could feel their tension – and their trust.

"Narcissa, step onto the first red square."

Narcissa sobbed once, but she let go of Alice's hand and did so. Yami no Yugi reached out to take her hand.

"Okay, on the count of three, we step to this blue square, okay?" he said, indicating a square across from him and diagonal from her.

She nodded, her chin trembling.

"One, two, three."

She was almost a few beats off. But by a stroke of luck, they both stepped onto the square at the same time. No shock came. Narcissa gasped out another sob and buried her face in Yami no Yugi's shoulder.

"All right," Yami no Yugi said. "Anthony. Get to this second red square. And Alice, the first red square."

They did so.

"Anthony, you, me, and Narcissa are all going to step on this white square together. Alice, you'll move to the next red square. Then all together, we move to the purple square."

Slowly, each square was conquered. They were set up so perfectly. After the purple square, two blue squares. The group split off again, stepping onto the squares. Another purple. It got a little tricky when the next set was a red and a white. But they managed, sending three off at once and one to the next one at the same time. Yami no Yugi thought he saw electricity crackle more than once, but it was only a trick of the light.

Next square. Next square. Next square.

He could see the end.

"Yugi," Alice whispered.

Yami no Yugi didn't acknowledge her at first. They were timing their stepping off a purple square onto a pair of blue ones.

"Yugi," Alice insisted.

"What?" Yami no Yugi said, as they safely made it to another square.

"You're making me want to live again."

Yami no Yugi blinked. He was focused on the squares, planning the next move, but the question was surprising to him.

"...What?"

"I tried to kill myself, a few weeks back," she said. "I'm a pretty well-known model. I got it all, you could say. But I didn't think so. That's why Jigsaw took me. Because I was wasting a good life. That's what it said on the tape recorder."

Another pair of blue squares. A set of red ones came next. He and Alice split off, each one to their own square. Then they moved to another blue one together, and Anthony and Narcissa stepped onto the red ones.

"I'm glad you want to live again," Yami no Yugi said. "But I don't see how I did that."

"Because you're so damn idealistic."

There was a red square in front of them, and a white square to the side. Yami no Yugi stepped onto the red one as Alice, Anthony, and Narcissa all stepped onto the white one. Yami no Yugi stepped to another red one in front of him, and Alice split off from Anthony and Narcissa again to step to the red one he had just left, while Anthony and Narcissa moved to a blue one.

Yami no Yugi and Alice ended up on another blue one.

"You keep talking about how everybody's precious. All life is important. I don't get how you can believe that. But I wanna believe it."

Her voice got stronger and louder. Anthony and Narcissa were starting to listen too.

"I wanna learn how you can think like that. About everyone else first. How you can see what to do, how to save everyone, cause you feel like you've got to. I wanna feel like that too."

Yami no Yugi smiled slightly.

"I'm glad," he said.

But then he frowned.

"But why bring this up now? Couldn't it wait until we're safe from certain death?"

Alice laughed, a bit huskily.

"Ya know, it's funny, but I haven't felt this happy in years," she said. "I haven't felt this good about myself ever. And I don't want to give Jigsaw any damn credit. Nah, if I was here without you, I wouldn't feel this good. I wouldn't have seen something so good."

"But why are you bringing this up now?" Yami no Yugi insisted?

Both pairs stepped from a purple square onto a pair of blue squares. Only one set of squares left til the end.

They were both white.

Yami no Yugi whipped to look up at Alice. She was grinning broadly, but there were tears in her eyes.

"Alice –"

"Goddamn you," she said, still smiling. "You make me wanna live – but you make me wanna be a hero, too."

She looked sharply at Anthony and Narcissa, and before Yami no Yugi could stop her, she had shoved him towards the white square. Anthony and Narcissa stepped quickly to the white square to balanced Yami no Yugi's weight, and then Anthony grabbed both him and Narcissa by the scruffs and pulled all three of them onto firm, safe ground.

Alice's scream ripped right through Yami no Yugi's skin, sharper than a thousand razor wires cutting through him. He whipped around, though it felt like slow motion. Electricity coursed through Alice's body, flinging her arms and legs into wild motions, her mouth open in a permanent O.

Then the scream stopped, the electricity petered out, and everything was silent.

Alice lay perfectly still on the gaudily colored ground. A dead body on a children's play mat.

The world seemed to stop.

"_I swear to you, I will get you all out alive."_

"_No one is going to die."_

"_I have never lost a game."_

"_Dammit, you make me wanna be a hero."_

Yami no Yugi started forward. Anthony grabbed him roughly by the shoulder, pulling him back so hard that he threw the boy to the ground.

"Are you crazy? You can't go over there. You'll get shocked. And then where will we be, without Mr. King of Games, huh?"

Narcissa sobbed on the ground, even harder than before.

Yami no Yugi's brain was completely empty. He could not comprehend the thin, scratched body that was Alice. Alice was dead.

Alice was dead.

Yami no Yugi had broken his promise.

Something started to bubble in his stomach.

_Other me?_ Yugi asked tentatively.

Yami no Yugi's hands started to tremble. He could not close his mouth. He could not take his eyes away from Alice. Her eyes wide open, her mouth in an O. No hint of her last smile remained on her face. Just frozen pain and terror.

Frozen. Dead.

Gone.

Another scream echoed across the warehouse. It took a second before he realized that it was his own. But it was not one of pain, loss, even sadness.

It was one of pure, unadulterated rage.

"DAMN YOU JIGSAW! DAMN YOU! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE JUST DONE? YOU'VE ROBBED A PERSON OF THE GIFT OF LIFE! THAT VERY GIFT YOU CLAIM TO HOLD IN SUCH HIGH DAMN REGARD!"

With another wordless scream, he punched a crate. It didn't give way, and he thought one of his knuckles cracked, but he barely felt the pain.

His cry rang in the quiet, empty building for a long moment. When he looked up again, Anthony was staring at him with his mouth hanging open. It was like he couldn't believe he had just seen such a hurricane come out of Yami no Yugi. Narcissa howled, the sobs racking her body and making her collapse to her side.

Yami no Yugi straightened up. He refused to look at either of them.

_Other me..._ Yugi whispered. His voice seemed thick with tears, too. _Other me, please, let's focus on who's still alive. Alice-san gave herself up to save us all. We need to make sure these two get out alive. There are still more games – _

"No," Yami no Yugi said. "There are no more games. There will be no more damn games."

And he stepped onto the white square. Anthony yelled, Narcissa screamed – the electricity crackled around Yami no Yugi.

But none of them touched him. He barely even spared them a glance. They could not penetrate his armor, this armor of anger and loss and sadness and hurt. He walked to Alice's side. Tears would not come. There was only a sickening, echoing emptiness.

He closed her eyes. Carefully, he gathered her up into his arms. Despite her being taller than him, he was surprised at how light she was.

He stepped off the board. Anthony was still staring. Narcissa had stopped crying to stare.

"We're leaving," Yami no Yugi said. "Now."


	5. End Game

The next room contained some kind of game that involved chainsaws and swinging knives. Yami no Yugi didn't bother with it. Anthony yelled at him to stop before he cut his head cut off.

But when Yami no Yugi approached the dangerous game, a vicious windstorm picked around him, lightning jumping between the gusts. And when it cleared, the pieces of the game had disappeared.

The room after that also contained a game, but Yami no Yugi didn't even stop to wonder what it was. This time, a great shining shield jumping up around him and his companions, causing the electricity to bounce away and dissipate into the walls instead.

And in the final room, they were meant to find the correct key to the door to escape. The wrong keys would trigger death traps.

Yami no Yugi just sent his darkest glare at the door.

Anthony and Narcissa both screamed with a giant, serpentine red dragon appeared above their heads, opening one of its two mouths and blasting the wall to pieces.

They walked out of the building without a scratch.

Policemen were starting to swarm the building. It had taken them three hours to decode a message from Jigsaw directing them towards the bodies of his victims. They were shocked to see three very alive people walking from the wreckage of a wall that had just blown up in front of their faces. They didn't believe Anthony or Narcissa about the dragon. They assumed a bomb.

Everyone was questioned – this was huge news, to have so many survivors of a Jigsaw game.

It was the worst hour of Yami no Yugi's life, reliving the nightmare, over and over for policemen, paramedics, detectives. Reliving that moment over and over in his head with the electricity crackling all around.

"Yugi!"

Anzu's scream barely stirred him from his waking coma. She bolted across the grounds, ignoring policemen telling her to leave, this was a crime scene, and wrapped her arms around Yami no Yugi.

"Oh God," she cried. "Oh thank God."

Jonouchi, Honda, Shizuka, and Ryo all surrounded him. But it was a testament to their friendship that none of them pressed him. None of them asked him, "what happened?" None of them asked him, "are you all right?"

Anzu just kept hugging him and crying. Jonouchi gripped his shoulder tightly. Honda patted him on the back. Shizuka ran to get water from the paramedics for him. Ryo just sat quietly, meeting Yami no Yugi's gaze with calmness every time Yami no Yugi needed some sort of life line in his dark thoughts.

They took Alice away, wrapped up in a bag, pulled into an ambulance.

_She saved my life,_ he thought. _I could have saved hers. I didn't need to play the game. I could have used my shadow magic from the very beginning._

_It's not your fault, _Yugi said.

_Yes it is._

Yugi was silent for a moment.

_She died happily, _he said. _She died knowing that there was something worth dying for._

And then the tears started to come. He cried out again, almost as loud as his first scream after Alice's death. Anzu held him, just held him, letting him completely break down. Letting him let go of everything.

Let go. Let go. Just to let go.


	6. Yami no Game

"You are a damn fucker," Anthony said. "And I owe you my damn life."

"Do something with it," Yami no Yugi said. "Something good."

Anthony managed half a grin.

"Yeah. I'll try."

He considered Yami no Yugi for a moment.

"Ya know, I don't think I believe half the things I saw happen in there," he said. "You were like some kind of wizard."

"The correct term is magician, actually."

Anthony snorted.

"I hope I don't have to meet you again, smart ass."

Yami no Yugi smiled slightly.

"Likewise."

_Three years later, Anthony had given up drinking, returned to his wife and kids, and went back to school, to become a social worker. _

"Are you doing all right?" Yami no Yugi asked.

"No," Narcissa whispered.

Yami no Yugi touched her shoulder. She sighed deeply.

"Thank you," she whispered.

_Narcissa went back home, reconciled with her mother, and grew up to be a nurse. Every patient who has had her is surprised and pleased by her kind, gentle demeanor that keeps them brave in the face of sickness._

"You brought her back, you brought her back," Alice's mother sobbed.

Yami no Yugi did not think he deserved this. But he allowed Alice's mother to hug and cling to him as she sobbed. Her father was stone silent, frozen. He looked like he had forgotten how to feel.

"I wish I could have saved her," he whispered.

"Oh, you..." Alice's mother sobbed. "You're so young. But you brought her back to us. You didn't leave her body behind."

She held him at arm's length, still sobbing.

"And she died knowing there was something good in this world," she said. "That's the important thing."

_Alice's funeral was one of the hardest things Yami no Yugi ever had to endure. He had lost._

_But he wasn't the only one who lost._

The man that called himself Jigsaw, actually John Kramer, was rather pleased with his results. So many instant rehabilitation. Maybe he should have this Yugi Mutou be in more of his games. He might make a good apprentice.

He turned around.

There was a boy in the shadows. An eye glowed on his forehead.

"The door to darkness has opened," he said.

_Three days after the incident, John Kramer was found dragging himself to the hospital, screaming for something to stop. Clear evidence was found in his home that linked him and several others to the Jigsaw murders. Until he died of cancer in prison, John Kramer was said to have continued to mutter about a boy with a third eye. About how he never knew how much pain he had caused.  
_

_And he didn't want to hear his victim's screams anymore._


End file.
